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The City – A Natural Starting Point

Cities are not located outside the natural environment. Buildings, industry and urban infrastructure consume resources, change landscapes and discharge pollutants into air and waters. Forests, waterfronts and waterways within city limits serve as ecosystems and habitat corridors on which species depend.
Where we site factories, freeways, and parkland impacts the health of urban residents and defines the character of urban neighborhoods.

The Center on Urban Environmental Law (CUEL) at Golden Gate University School of Law takes the city as a natural starting point to assess how the law shapes environmental conditions.

Center on Urban Environmental Law
Golden Gate University School of Law
536 Mission Street | San Francisco, California 94105-2968

In August 2018, CUEL released its guidebook Rivers That Depend on Aquifers: Drafting GMA Groundwater Plans with Fisheries in Mind. This guidebook covers the requirements of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) that apply to interconnected groundwater and surface water and the impacts of groundwater pumping on fisheries.